Rating: 
Summary: Needs to understand the history of the USA
Review: I could write a voluminous diatribe against this book, but I feel it would be meaningless, There are only two types of constitutional scholars in America. 1. Those that study the constitution and its original intent. 2. Those that write about it but rarely read it. Unfortunately Laurence Tribe falls into the second category. He is unable to read and understand the original intent of the founding fathers because he is so intent upon his own revisionist interpretation. This is mainly because of his naturalistic interpretation of the law. If one would study the founding fathers and their beliefs it would be very hard to imagine this sort of indignation that Mr. Tribe befalls the USA.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't believe the revisionism claims - this is THE treatise
Review: I don't know how anybody can give this book less than 5 stars unless you prefer easier reading and mini briefs the Nowak Rotunda book is guilty of. The Nowak book is however, a very strong treatise but Tribe's is the definitive work. It is the most cited source in Supreme Court arguments and recommended by professors. How anybody can think that it is revisionist or naturalist inclined is riduculous. It's hard to do that when you've got the con law community expecting the most demanding legal standards and several contributors (see the preface you might recognize the names) working on it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a great resource for students
Review: I purchased this book before my first year of law school. I figured that reading this would help me in my constitutional law class. In retrospect, I think that purchasing this book was probably a waste of money and that there were much better constitutional law treatises I could have bought.
Perhaps the biggest problem I had with this treatise is that it is not complete. It is part one of a projected two-part treatise. This frustrated me, as more than half the topics covered in my class were not given treatment in this book. Topics not covered in this volume include: the First Amendment, Equal Protection, the Fifth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges and Immunities Clause.
Even the chapters in this book that overlapped with topics covered in my class were not helpful. This is largely because of Tribe's writing style. He does not devote much space to discussing individual cases. Instead he cites a case to stand for a particular proposition, and then moves on. He may cite the same case several different times, each cite being hundreds of pages apart. The result is that as much time is spent flipping through pages as is spent reading Tribe's analysis of the case in question. Tribe's style is also very difficult to follow. At times he is prolix, writing about "construction of the constitutional architecture," and "two strands intertwined in a single, grand fabric of law and politics." At other times he covers topics in such micro-detail that one is left wondering if Tribe is showing off. One reader commented on this, saying that the book is worth purchasing for the footnotes alone. I disagree. I do not think that most readers will have time to read Tribe's footnotes--many of which are hundreds of words long--nor will they have time to read the thirty cases mentioned within each footnote, many of which are essential to read if one is to understand the thrust of Tribe's point. I give this book three stars, a middle-of-the-road rating. I do this because I realize that Tribe's book may be of tremendous utility to a law professor, or to a student who is writing a law review note on a topic of constitutional interest. For first year law students, however, Tribe's book is best avoided. Better resources for the first-year student include: Emanuel's Constitutional Law Outline and Erwin Chemerinksy's "Constitutional Law Principles and Policies." Both of those titles give clearer and more spot-on analysis of topics typically covered in first-year constitutional law courses.
Rating:
Summary: A tome
Review: I was sad to see some reviewers here give this volume one or two stars based on some imaginary defects with the work -- ie, that this is a revisionist history of the Constitution, that Tribe is anti-natural law, or that Tribe didn't say enough about the Second Amendment (duh! he reserves discussion of that Amendment and all the other rights-creating amendments/provisions for Volume Two!). It's pretty clear that the reviewers who gave this work negative reviews didn't even crack the spine. Give me a break! The fact is that this volume is extremely well-written and meticulously researched. Plus it's written by THE preeminent con law scholar, somebody Supreme Court justices read on a regular basis (and hear regularly at various oral arguments). If you don't agree with Tribe's conclusions on a particular issue, well, he's given you plenty of other scholarship and caselaw to go look at. I turn to this volume quite a bit in my practice to get an overview of constitutional issues. My only regret is that Volume Two is not yet available. Come on Larry!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent treatise on American Constitutional Law.
Review: In this first volume of the soon to be two volume third edition, Professor Tribe does an excellent job of articulating the most prominent arguments of today, as well as an excellent analysis of all constitutional law topics. After reading any topic in this book it is hard to believe that there is more to know on that issue, but if there is, the place to find it is in the excellent citations this book has to offer. These citations alone would be reason to purchase this book. As a law student in a first year con law class, my recommendation to every law student is to buy this book, and the second volume when it comes out, as soon as you can, you will not need another hornbook or study aid.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: This books is a must for anyone who studies constitutional law. It is an invaluable resource tool, well written and thoroughly researched.
Rating: 
Summary: Missing Pages
Review: This treatise is incomplete. It was originally published in 1978 as the first of two volumes, but Tribe has apparently never gotten around to writing the second volume. I have a copy on my shelf, and about half the time I go to look up a topic it is not covered in the first volume. There are many other good constitutional law treaties - buy one of those instead. Or, wait until Tribe finally publishes the second volume before buying this treatise.
Rating:
Summary: Missing Pages
Review: This treatise is incomplete. It was originally published in 1978 as the first of two volumes, but Tribe has apparently never gotten around to writing the second volume. I have a copy on my shelf, and about half the time I go to look up a topic it is not covered in the first volume. There are many other good constitutional law treaties - buy one of those instead. Or, wait until Tribe finally publishes the second volume before buying this treatise.
Rating:
Summary: A must for all law students.
Review: This treatise on Constitutional Law is essential to every law student. I am currently enrolled in first-year Constitutional Law course, and I open up this book at least once everyday. The information contained in the book almost always answers my question, but on the rare occasion it does not the case cites and especially the secondary legal cites are excellent. I have purchased several Constitutional Law hornbooks and study aids, and this book by Professor Tribe easily surpasses the rest. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to argue, but argue you might
Review: Tribe has a long-existing and well-deserved reputation as one of the country's great Constitutional scholars. This book is thorough, well-thought-out, and provocative. It's not a book for a beginning Constitutional Law student, but it's one that a reader can come back to over the years, over and over,with the goal of better understanding the unity and structure of the Constitutional system. The text is both comprehensive and, at the same time, confrontational: it challenges the reader, it argues, it takes strong positions, and it educates. Argue with it, let it argue with you. You'll come out of the argument with a better sense of Constitutional logic, the dynamic nature of the system of Constitutional government, and of your own views. It's a classic.
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